In the half court we were able to climb back into this game late. But Dwight's rotations were lazy and he was constantly over helping off Hawes.

We had a terrible shooting night, but the game was still winnable. One of the reasons they wound up with open shots from their forwards was because of the lack of Howard rotating. In rotations when someone would come to the basket, Dwight would be 5 steps away from them. he would constantly help 5 steps away. and allow a wide open pass to be made which would cause the other guy to have to rotate over in an impossible situation.

Dwight's lack of defense down the stretch, and not looking for the shot cost us late in the game. Off two pick and rolls he wasn't looking for the pass when the high screen and roll IS a play we've run 5 times in the last few games for him.

He either did a half cut to the basket not looking for the pass, or cut to the basket but never look for a pass. That was what Kobe's turnover at the end of the game happened off of. Dwight set the screen, Kobe went through the screen and tried to get it for Howard who was cutting, but Dwight didn't look for the pass he just jogged away from Kobe with his head looking the other way, so the pass fell behind Dwight and we turned it over. But that's a problem.

Dwight is a big part of this team, he's our 2nd star next to Kobe, he's also our defensive anchor.

So if he goes in, not looking for his shot, and playing lazy defense down the stretch of games, we'll have a hard time winning any games.

Offense is easy, offense doesn't win rings.

All these NBA guys can score if given the chance, that's the easy part to the game. The real work is on the boards, on the defensive end and outside of the box score. Giving out a stat of the 6th best offense in the league proves nothing whatsoever. With a system that stresses nothing but offense, 6th isn't acceptable - at all.

The only teams ahead of us offensively are OKC, New York, Miami, The Clippers and San Antonio.

So only the top 2 teams of the East and the top 3 teams of the West are ahead of us offensively and as a team we shoot 51%. That's "acceptable" on the offensive end no matter how upset you are that your coach didn't get hired.

Meanwhile where are those teams compared to where the Lakers are? Oh that's right, fully entrenched in the playoff picture and looking more and more positive every day.

Again, offense is easy, not impressed. Your little jab at me being upset that "my" coach didn't get hired has run its course. It's not an insult, it's some weird thing you have no become attached to putting at the end of every one of your paragraphs when it comes to trying to make an argument to the contrary.

For the now 1,000,001 time, yes, Phil was the right coach and D'Antoni was the wrong one. The Lakers chose D'Antoni from an ego standpoint, not a logical one. They didn't want to come back to {Phil to bail them out because they were too proud. Instead they went the complete opposite way and now the team is going in that same fateful direction as well.

You're not insulting me when you say I side with the best coach of all time with a proven winning track record both places he's coached, as opposed to a twice proven do-nothing coach that ignores the most important half of the game of basketball.

Moving on...

reryo: A monkey could coach this team and win, unfortunately the Lakers hired a slug to do the job.

We will not go 1-4 or 0-5 in our next 5 games. At worst we will win 2, I'd be ecstatic with 3 to keep us close to .500. They will at least understand the fact that they need to play desperate very quickly here. We made some progress the last 7 games before tonight and took a step back tonight, but Kobe and Nash will not let this horrendous play keep occurring this consistently.

Edited by LakersChamps243, January 01, 2013 - 11:24 PM.

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there" - John Wooden

I don't se any justification for why you think this team will suddenly wake up from their now season long daze.

More power to you being positive about it, but I've lost most, if not all, of my positivity about this team.

I'm not saying we'll wake up and go on a clipperesque win streak, but we will not go 1-4 or 0-5. We won't let this turn into a downward spiral like it has become all season long to this point after every single game. If this doesn't shake us up a little, nothing will. I would gladly take 3 wins in this stretch as long as they come with effort every game.

Edited by LakersChamps243, January 01, 2013 - 11:35 PM.

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there" - John Wooden

I don't se any justification for why you think this team will suddenly wake up from their now season long daze.

More power to you being positive about it, but I've lost most, if not all, of my positivity about this team.

I'll hold you to that, and I hope you stick to that when the team starts doing well too

Unlike yourself I can be fully critical of the team without dropping all hope, like I was a few pages ago and lately.

Yes we'll still make the playoffs and when we start playing with consistency I'll acknowledge that too.

But they've been consistently good as much as they've been consistently bad. So let's say... 10-15 games from now we're still battling .500 I may agree with you.

But not right now.

I've seen worse Laker teams from 30 years ago on youtube and in archives that had much better circumstances than we've had this year and disappointed on a larger scale so the fact you said that you've never been more disappointed in a Lakers team in your 30 years of watching. I think that's a stretch and that's how I know you're overreacting and are just sour graping because neither Phil nor Sloan was hired.

Gotta agree with Fido, aside from the 5gm winning streak which for a moment got me into thinking maybe we figured it out, I just don't see anything positive happening to get us at a championship level. I love the Lakers but I'm realistic, there is no turn on and off switch the Lakers are a subpar team and I'm praying that we at least make the playoffs but for at least this season do not expect us even getting to the west semi-finals IF we make the playoffs.

You haven't seen the teams I've seen. Watching them on You Tube isn't seeing the teams game to game like I did for years on end at The Forum. You know that seeing how a team behaves in actual live / in-person game situations is far different than watching annotated versions of highlighted games from years ago.

The teams that were worse did not have this level of talent at their disposal. It's not overreacting, it's called reacting to the terrible way this team has played. Once more, you don't know me, you haven't seen the amount of games I've seen and never will. I stand by my biggest Laker disappointment view. I have NEVER been more disappointed in a Laker team. This team is a letdown on all fronts right now. Sure, I've seen worse Laker teams too, but even those teams gave more effort and played with more heart than this team has so far this year.

Again, I can take losing if the team leaves it all on the court every night. But these guys don't. How this is suddenly going to change under this regime and with the attitude these guys come into games with, I don't know. The sheer fact that everyone is simply talking about this team merely making the playoffs says a ton about where this team is at. The talk of winning rings is all but gone. Now everyone just wants to be in the picture. That's a sad, sad statement right there, but it seems to be gliding right by everyone.

This isn't Golden State or Milwaukee, barely making the playoffs isn't good enough. It shouldn't even be in the thoughts of any Laker fan, let alone the team itself. To accept anything less than competing for ring (especially with the talent this team currently has) is to settle for mediocrity. I for one, won't stand for that. If some of you guys will, have at it.

I hope I'm completely wrong, but I don't think I am at all.

Sure, we'll see who's right, but if this team goes the way I expect them too, I see nothing but excuses coming from those who simply won't acknowledge the serious trouble this team is in right now.

You haven't seen the teams I've seen. Watching them on You Tube isn't seeing the teams game to game like I did for years on end at The Forum. You know that seeing how a team behaves in actual live / in-person game situations is far different than watching annotated versions of highlighted games from years ago.

The teams that were worse did not have this level of talent at their disposal. It's not overreacting, it's called reacting to the terrible way this team has played. Once more, you don't know me, you haven't seen the amount of games I've seen and never will. I stand by my biggest Laker disappointment view. I have NEVER been more disappointed in a Laker team. This team is a letdown on all fronts right now. Sure, I've seen worse Laker teams too, but even those teams gave more effort and played with more heart than this team has so far this year.

Again, I can take losing if the team leaves it all on the court every night. But these guys don't. How this is suddenly going to change under this regime and with the attitude these guys come into games with, I don't know. The sheer fact that everyone is simply talking about this team merely making the playoffs says a ton about where this team is at. The talk of winning rings is all but gone. Now everyone just wants to be in the picture. That's a sad, sad statement right there, but it seems to be gliding right by everyone.

This isn't Golden State or Milwaukee, barely making the playoffs isn't good enough. It shouldn't even be in the thoughts of any Laker fan, let alone the team itself. To accept anything less than competing for ring (especially with the talent this team currently has) is to settle for mediocrity. I for one, won't stand for that. If some of you guys will, have at it.

I hope I'm completely wrong, but I don't think I am at all.

Sure, we'll see who's right, but if this team goes the way I expect them too, I see nothing but excuses coming from those who simply won't acknowledge the serious trouble this team is in right now.

You haven't seen the teams I've seen. Watching them on You Tube isn't seeing the teams game to game like I did for years on end at The Forum. You know that seeing how a team behaves in actual live / in-person game situations is far different than watching annotated versions of highlighted games from years ago.

The teams that were worse did not have this level of talent at their disposal. It's not overreacting, it's called reacting to the terrible way this team has played. Once more, you don't know me, you haven't seen the amount of games I've seen and never will. I stand by my biggest Laker disappointment view. I have NEVER been more disappointed in a Laker team. This team is a letdown on all fronts right now. Sure, I've seen worse Laker teams too, but even those teams gave more effort and played with more heart than this team has so far this year.

Again, I can take losing if the team leaves it all on the court every night. But these guys don't. How this is suddenly going to change under this regime and with the attitude these guys come into games with, I don't know. The sheer fact that everyone is simply talking about this team merely making the playoffs says a ton about where this team is at. The talk of winning rings is all but gone. Now everyone just wants to be in the picture. That's a sad, sad statement right there, but it seems to be gliding right by everyone.

This isn't Golden State or Milwaukee, barely making the playoffs isn't good enough. It shouldn't even be in the thoughts of any Laker fan, let alone the team itself. To accept anything less than competing for ring (especially with the talent this team currently has) is to settle for mediocrity. I for one, won't stand for that. If some of you guys will, have at it.

I hope I'm completely wrong, but I don't think I am at all.

Sure, we'll see who's right, but if this team goes the way I expect them too, I see nothing but excuses coming from those who simply won't acknowledge the serious trouble this team is in right now.

Oh yes, this disappointment COMPLETELY trumps the Spurs sweeping us in the last game at the Forum.

no

It completely trumps actually having a coach that refuses to play Wilt in a pivotal game and we lose because of it.

Nope D'antoni is worse apparently.

It completely trumps the year the Clippers went further in the playoffs than us when Phil was our coach.

It completely trumps the disappointment we felt when the Pistons took us out of the finals.

It trumps the disappointment of big game james being injured and Jordan getting his first ring because of it and no one bringing it up nowadays when they bring up Jordan's first title.

As you can see, my disappointments don't happen till the playoffs.

You can keep assuming that the Mavs are gonna go 38-13 and keep us out of the playoffs. I'll choose not to and when the playoffs come we shall see who is correct.

You're diluting yourself into thinking the Mavs are the only team that can keep the Lakers out of the playoffs. I never said they exclusively would be keeping the Lakers out of the picture. You gave me 4 options as to teams I thought could manage a better winning percentage at the end of the season, they were one of the picks. Now you're pinning it on me as if I said they alone will keep the Lakers at bay. Come on dude, manufacturing facts for the sake of supporting your points is despicable.

And yep, this team's lack of desire, passion and want to to win completely trumps all of that.

1) The Spurs, a better team that year, far better. I didn't expect the Lakers to win with the coach they had, wasn't surprised at all. But through it, the team gave 100%, that's all I could ask for.

2) Never said D'Antoni was worse, once again words in my mouth to support your argument, pitiful. And again that team came out with effort every night, not a disappointment at all.

3) The Clippers were a better team that year, yep trumps it.

4) Horace Grant and Karl Malone were in jured, the team was fractured from the Shaq imposed rift with Kobe, yep, it trumps that. That team was broken from the start due to Payton's lack of will and attitude behind the scenes and Shaq's incredible arrogance. I knew several people working with the broadcasting team that year and from day one, that team was doomed. Yep, trumps it.

5) Magic was hurt that year they lost to the Bulls, and it was time for the torch to be passed. Even healthy everyone in The Forum knew the Bulls were the better team. A bummer to lose, but not disappointing because the team gave everything they had to stay in the series without their leader. they just lost to a better team. Yep, trumps it.

Keep coming at me all you want, you'll lose. This is the most disappointing Laker team I have ever seen! You are not me, I said "I have ever seen", that means me, my opinion. Again, I have watched more Laker games than you have in your lifetime and as of right now, yes, this team is the most disappointing. I can't imagine how gypped long time and new season ticket holders must feel right now. Between the way they play with the talent they have, and the coaching choice they made, this team is nothing but disappointment.

Not giving 100% every night when you play a sport for millions of dollars is disappointing. And these guys define that - end of story.

You're diluting yourself into thinking the Mavs are the only team that can keep the Lakers out of the playoffs. I never said they exclusively would be keeping the Lakers out of the picture. You gave me 4 options as to teams I thought could manage a better winning percentage at the end of the season, they were one of the picks. Now you're pinning it on me as if I said they alone will keep the Lakers at bay. Come on dude, manufacturing facts for the sake of supporting your points is despicable.

And yep, this team's lack of desire, passion and want to to win completely trumps all of that.

1) The Spurs, a better team that year, far better. I didn't expect the Lakers to win with the coach they had, wasn't surprised at all. But through it, the team gave 100%, that's all I could ask for.

2) Never said D'Antoni was worse, once again words in my mouth to support your argument, pitiful. And again that team came out with effort every night, not a disappointment at all.

3) The Clippers were a better team that year, yep trumps it.

4) Horace Grant and Karl Malone were in jured, the team was fractured from the Shaq imposed rift with Kobe, yep, it trumps that. That team was broken from the start due to Payton's lack of will and attitude behind the scenes and Shaq's incredible arrogance. I knew several people working with the broadcasting team that year and from day one, that team was doomed. Yep, trumps it.

5) Magic was hurt that year they lost to the Bulls, and it was time for the torch to be passed. Even healthy everyone in The Forum knew the Bulls were the better team. A bummer to lose, but not disappointing because the team gave everything they had to stay in the series without their leader. they just lost to a better team. Yep, trumps it.

Keep coming at me all you want, you'll lose. This is the most disappointing Laker team I have ever seen! You are not me, I said "I have ever seen", that means me, my opinion. Again, I have watched more Laker games than you have in your lifetime and as of right now, yes, this team is the most disappointing. I can't imagine how gypped long time and new season ticket holders must feel right now. Between the way they play with the talent they have, and the coaching choice they made, this team is nothing but disappointment.

Not giving 100% every night when you play a sport for millions of dollars is disappointing. And these guys define that - end of story.

You mention the injuries of Horace Grant and Karl Malone as well as Magic Johnson as the reasons you weren't so disappointed in the Lakers teams.

What about the injury to Steve Nash this year?

Since this is early season that should be included shouldn't it? I feel it should.

This team isn't disappointing me on that kind of level till they lose in the playoffs or till they don't make the playoffs.

How about this as a reason for this team struggling early.

Steve Nash injuryCoach getting firedDwight still not being healthyNew System and coach coming inNew Philosophy with no training camp being thrown in on the flyTeam playing a grand total of 7 games together out of the 31 NBA games.

I'd say our early season troubles could be considered up there. Injuries seem to be a justification to some of our failures in your opinion(I'm just going by SOME of what you said, not all)

So why does that not apply to this season and the above I just mentioned?

I'd say that keeps us from being the "biggest" disappointment ever.

And yes, it is your opinion. I just have a feeling at the end of the day, and end of the season. That isn't gonna hold. Because I expect us to do well.

All these NBA guys can score if given the chance, that's the easy part to the game. The real work is on the boards, on the defensive end and outside of the box score. Giving out a stat of the 6th best offense in the league proves nothing whatsoever. With a system that stresses nothing but offense, 6th isn't acceptable - at all.

They can all also play defense like they learned in high school. Some don't. They all just happen to be on the Lakers this season.